


New World Alumni

by paranoidangel



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Downtime (Reeltime 1995), Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane Smith (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-13
Updated: 2012-12-13
Packaged: 2017-11-21 01:44:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/592037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranoidangel/pseuds/paranoidangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarah keeps going back to New World University.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New World Alumni

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hhertzof](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hhertzof/gifts).



> Betaed by Selenay.

No one ever quite understood what happened at New World University, not even Sarah and she had been there. For most people it was enough to know that the Chillys had been odd, even after they stopped being New World University students, and they stayed away from the site. It gained a reputation for being haunted, helped along the way by Sarah Jane Smith. Of course the rumours were even more powerful because it was actually haunted...

~~~

"What is it?" Kate asked, as she and Sarah ran from the lizard monster chasing them.

"Some sort of lizard," Sarah replied, although this was no time to be worrying over the species.

"No, I meant the woman."

They ended up in what had once been a New World University computer lab. Hoping the lizard monster would carry on down the corridor, they slipped inside, slammed the door and stood with their backs against it, panting. "A Mayan priestess, I think." She hadn't stopped to take notes at the time

Kate nodded. "Do Mayan priestesses usually guard a dimensional portal?"

"Not as far as I know." Sarah's knowledge of Mayan priestesses was more limited than her knowledge of dimensional portals, but it was safe to say the two weren't usually seen together.

But they couldn't hide here much longer - the lizard monster hadn't been fooled and was now thrashing against the door, which was bending alarmingly.

"How do you kill a lizard?" Sarah asked.

"Freeze it?" Kate didn't sound sure. "Cut their tail off twice?"

Sarah surveyed the room. There was plenty of dust and disused computers, but nothing that was of any immediate use against an ordinary lizard, never mind one that could fly. "We'll just have to improvise," she concluded.

Fortunately for them, it turned out that lizard monsters didn't like having dust thrown in their eyes any more than humans did. They blinded it long enough to trap it in the window and let it suffocate. Its death released the priestess from the alien influence, although she was less happy about everything that had happened and wasn't sure about living in the future. Even with all of Kate's cajoling she refused to try. She said something about going to heaven and jumped off the roof before either of them could stop her.

~~~

"What is it?" Sarah asked.

"It's just a lost alien." Kate's mothering instincts kicked in and she hugged it. In her arms it did look like a lost little boy, albeit one with black and white fur and long ears.

Sarah had been afraid that after last time Kate wouldn't want anything to do with her or the old New World University site. Now she was glad she'd been wrong. At least this time they managed to save a life, by keeping the alien warm and finding him some salad to eat until his parents came and rescued him.

~~~

It was years before they next needed to go back to the New World University site. This time Sarah was better prepared - she'd had Nat monitoring it and knew everything about the man who had bought it. Everything except the reason why. In the end it turned out that he was refitting it for a group of refugees from another planet and didn't appreciate their help.

Kate checked the window, while Sarah hunted through her pockets for something she could use on the lock. "Too far down," Kate concluded. "Who has a lock on the outside of their bathroom anyway?"

Sarah shook her head. "Someone who wants to trap people inside." She wasn't too worried - being locked up meant they were onto something important.

"We could flood it," Kate mused as she experimented with the taps.

"That would take too long." Sarah sighed. Why did these things always crop up just when she had a deadline?

She was just starting to get somewhere with the lock when she heard someone on the other side. She stepped back just as they opened the door and found herself face to face with what looked like someone in a rabbit suit.

It smiled at Kate, which was a little alarming, especially with those teeth. "Many years ago you looked after me. Now I am looking after you."

Sarah was still lost, but Kate smiled and came over to hug the rabbit alien enthusiastically. "I remember," she said. "Look at you, all grown up."

~~~

After that things at the site grew quiet and Sarah and Kate only saw each other at the Brigadier's Christmas parties. At least until Mr Smith interrupted to inform her there were reports of laser weapons. Sarah had been surprised Kate was able to come on a weekday with no notice, until Kate told her she'd been made redundant.

There wasn't a great deal of time for sympathies because the weapons turned out to wielded by pink furry rabbit aliens and UNIT's gunfire wasn't helping. Sarah tried to find a soldier who looked like they might be in charge.

"Major," she said when she'd spotted her. "This isn't helping."

The soldier didn't look pleased to see her. It was becoming a habit with UNIT personnel. "Neither is an alien civil war on Earth."

The pink rabbits were presumably the ones the black and white rabbits had run from. "Kate knows one of these rabbits." Sarah also knew that Kate had been back to visit them regularly. "Why don't you let her talk to them? If it doesn't work, you can go back to shooting them."

Major Magambo looked sceptical, but called her men back.

Kate shot Sarah a scared look before she boldly waded into the fray, head held high. Her act worked long enough to convince both sides to talk. There was even a conference room for them to sit in.

"Who's your diplomatic specialist?" Kate asked, but UNIT didn't have one at the moment. Or a scientific advisor, it seemed. "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart would have a fit," she said, which cowed Magambo a little and made Kate smile. "For now it's me. Tell me everything you know."

Kate had a way with the soldiers. Even Sarah fell into line, going around the complex, looking into everything and talking to people. When she returned to the conference room she nodded at Kate, confirming the black and white alien's story.

Meanwhile Kate managed to convince the black and white aliens to return home, using the pink aliens' spaceship, so they could confirm the war was over. The pink aliens, meanwhile, would stay in UNIT's cells, until their own people could come and take care of the renegades.

Sarah was quiet as they walked back to the car. "I have an idea," she explained, when Kate questioned it. "How would you like a job as UNIT's science advisor?"

Kate leaned against the car. "Lethbridge-Stewart isn't a very common name. I don't want to join them just because Dad did."

"He'll be proud if you do. And it'll work for both of us," Sarah added as Kate was quiet, considering it. "I've lost count of the number of times UNIT has blundered in, all military and made the situation worse. You'd be doing me a favour."

"I've just saved the world," Kate said, standing up straight.

"Yes, you did." Sarah grinned. "Fun, isn't it?"

**Author's Note:**

> I have used some storylines from unused ideas in The Sarah Jane Companion Volume Three.


End file.
